Older and Wiser – RunningWell

Hi Everyone!

Huge congrats to everyone who raced the Muskoka IM 70.3! Jason, Carol, Madalyn. Looked like a hot and hilly one – way to go all!!

Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes yesterday. I’ve been thinking a little bit about getting older. I have to say, I’m really enjoying it. Instead of ‘radical acceptance’ I’d say I’m in a ‘radical embracing’ phase. I know how to appreciate what I have and the community and friends I have around me. As I mentioned to someone, in training for this Ironman (which I’m training for sort of intuitively because I just know my athletic self very well), I’ve let my demons out of their cage just enough to drive me to certain points, but I know when and how to pull them back in and shut the door. They’re still there, but they work for me now. We are all moving towards becoming wiser and learning about ourselves through trial and error and the hardships of life. But it takes living it to get there! So I’m very glad I’m still doing that.

I also believe many of us come into our true purpose later in life. Did you know that there is a parasitic worm they’ve discovered which has one of the shortest lifecycles ever? It is born with eggs inside of it, all female and one male. As soon as it is born, the eggs hatch, mate, the worm dies and the babies eat their way out with fertilized eggs inside. And the cycle of life continues. That creature’s existence has one purpose: to procreate and die. Evolution is so interesting. Living things have developed many traits, which we’ll call “purposes”, to assist in the success of their own kind. Did you know that there are only two mammals which have extended lifespans post-menopause? These are killer whales and humans. (interestingly, not other primates). Post-menopausal killer whales become the leaders of their pods, and decide when and where to hunt and travel to new areas. Their wisdom is required by the pod and they are more useful to the success of the species as leaders than as procreators. Like them, we have evolved to live many years beyond our ability to procreate (sorry guys, I’m talking about females here – I don’t have a strong theory yet on what you’re useful for beyond a certain point – maybe it’s to listen to and support the women 😉 ) Whether we’ve had kids or not, I think after a certain age we enter our Wise and Leadership years. If our usefulness to our species ended with our ability to procreate, then like the worm we would end there because life is expensive and it is only supported if there is a purpose. But here many of us are, and are intended to be. So what do we do? I think we need to look to and learn from many of the wise and strong women who came before us. Who fought for our rights and justices for others. We can’t lose our energy and hope at this stage. We may be a little less physically strong and peppy than we were in our 20’s, and we may take a little longer to recover from things physically, but man – we are wise and powerful. We know how to get the most out of ourselves, and we know how to work hard. And I think our society needs that wisdom and power right now. Onwards!!

Onto tomorrow’s workout: back to Lakeshore and I will bring singlets!! 6:05 drills, 6:15 go time.

4-5 x 1 mile with 2 min rest. Here’s the pacing:

People training for Fall marathons: 1^st mile tempo (HM pace), 2^nd mile 10K pace, 3^rd mile 5K pace-ish, 4^th mile 10K pace, 5^th mile HM pace

People training/tapering for Ironman: alternate Half IM and IM pace. Keep it to 4 if legs are feeling tired but this shouldn’t feel too hard.

People just getting back into it or training to train: Keep them steady eddy, but choose ONE to go a little harder. And keep it to 4 total.

If doing these fartlek style or on your own: 4-5 x 7 min w 2 min easy. Alternate effort/pace as above.

Thanks all – see you in the am!

Seanna